Olympic Arms New AR! 300

[Britton]

Attached is a photo of Bob and Brian Schuetz standing over the first kill by an Olympic 300 (Gamestalker®), utilizing the new 300 Olympic Super Short Magnum (300 OSSM) with ammunition manufactured by HSM, Stevensville, MT. It was taken in Cody Wyoming on Sunday, September 13th at 261 yards (lasered distance). Remember, a 150 grain bullet at 3,043 fps out of a standard, unmodified AR15 lower receiver! 30-06 ballistics from an unmodified AR lower…

Naturally, we are all very excited. Enjoy!

[dtkw]

Cool, looked like they had fun outdoor. What is a 300 OSSM? Are they expensive to shoot?

[shooter521]

Just what the world needs, another proprietary caliber that does the same thing as an old standby...

[Britton]

Just what the world needs, another proprietary caliber that does the same thing as an old standby...

I know you want one!

[dave29]

Originally Posted by Britton

I know you want one!

I do

[Britton]

FYI. MSRP for the first year of production will be $1349.00, our regular price will be about $1195.00 to $1249.00. Then there will be site supporter discounts. Remember folks, this uses a standard AR lower. Not sure about the spring, magazine or buffer, but will find out.

[IndyGunworks]

hate to say it here, but a 261 yard kill shot on an animal that size is not THAT impressive, a .223 out of a similar gun could easily have done the same thing.

[melensdad]

Originally Posted by shooter521

Just what the world needs, another proprietary caliber that does the same thing as an old standby...

I usually agree with your assessment of things and bow to your greater knowledge on some technical issues but this is one issue where I think you are sadly and completely missing the point.

The AR15 is now the most popular rifle in the US. Literally hundreds of thousands of them are out there, most in some tactical form, but most people have little use for a tactical rifle. So what are all these new AR15 owners going to do after they run a few hundred rounds through their guns . . . learn that a tactical roll while carrying a long gun just gets them bruised and muddy?

Now what I see is that there are a couple MILLION AR15s out there in civilian hands, it is now the MOST POPULAR rifle in America. It seems like most of those sold are 16" carbines chambered in 5.56.

What I see NOW is that lots of people own these guns are they are nifty toys, but not very good for hunting, not very good for target shooting, not very good for popping prairie dogs, etc.

SO what I think MAY/WILL happen is that companies will get very creative in offering alternative calibers and alternative style uppers that are suited for different tasks. High velocity calibers like the 223 WSSM may become more common for long range prairie dog control. Thumper calibers like 458 Socom may be more common for deer hunters and boar hunters. At least 2 different companies are introducing 30 Caliber rounds, with associated uppers, specifically for the hunting market. This OLY is one of those two rounds. The 6.8 Remington, while not the tactical wonder it was designed to be, seems to be becoming a modern day equivalent of the old 30-30 deer hunting round. Wildcatters are pushing the 35 Gremlin (6.5 Grendel necked up to .358) and 358 WSSM as brush busting deer rounds for use in woodland hunting.

So what I see is that OLY (and a couple other smart companies) is simply taking the logical step that many are already seeing germinate. These rifles may be hampered by a short magazine that limits the overall length of the round, but there are innovators out there that are taking the rifles to their logical next level and turning 'nifty toys' into 'useful hunting tools' to broaden the use and acceptance of the guns.

If I was in the gun business, I would be focusing on building/selling alternate caliber uppers, and potentially working with ammo manufacturers to make the ammo for these calibers more common. There are plenty of small ammo companies that could provide batches of ammo for the uppers and the ammo is one of the current stumbling blocks that may be slowing down the sales of alternate calibers.

Have you tried to find 6.5 Grendel ammo at your local gunshop? How about 458 Socom? Or 50 Beowulf? Even the 6.8 SPC is very scarce and there are at least a half dozen AR companies offering that chambering in their rifles/uppers. So if I was building guns, I'd also sit down with a company that makes ammo to increase the availability of BOTH uppers & ammo.

But mark my words, the next big thing with AR15 platform guns will be specialized uppers. Most will be 5.56 configuration but I expect more and more alternate calibers to expand the usefulness of the guns. The 30 caliber round is America's favorite, it is very logical to pursue the 30 OSSM round and while it may be proprietary it is from a large AR builder and they license their products to some high quality custom gun builders so we are bound to see some other innovations in configurations.

Facts are facts, this is a good round. It beats the 308 ballistics and do so out of a rifle that is smaller, lighter and easier to handle than a traditional 308. While some long bullets may be a challenge to load due to magazine limits, this will be a great hunting round, but MORE IMPORTANTLY it will be one of many calibers that will help transition the AR15 into the hunting fields of this nation, forever making it a 'legitimate' sporting arms in the eyes of the hunters who FORMERLY held it in distain as an "assault" rifle.

[6birds]

Do my eyes decieve me, or are both of them carrying Swarovski binos. Man, them glasses are expensive. Nice mass on those goat horns, and long live the 6.5 G!

[Britton]

Sweet post melensdad. I was just getting ready to post the exact same thing, sure I was.